Tropical Storm Irene forms in northeast Caribbean

MIAMI: Tropical Storm Irene, the ninth named storm of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season, formed on Saturday east of the Caribbean's Leeward Islands and was heading westward, the US National Hurricane Center said.

At 7 p.m. (2300 GMT), the storm was packing winds near 50 miles per hour (85 kph) and was about 190 miles (305 km) east of Dominica, the Miami-based hurricane center said.

Irene's forecast track would pass near or over Puerto Rico and mountainous Hispaniola, the island shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and the storm could be over the Florida Keys by late next week, forecasters say. It could develop into the first hurricane of the 2011 Atlantic season.

Depending on its eventual path, Irene could pose a threat to the United States or US oil and gas installations in the Gulf of Mexico, but forecasters say it is too early to predict with certitude at this stage.

Copyright Reuters, 2011